Preston North End v Aston Villa, Sat 29th Dec 3pm | Page 13 | Vital Football

Preston North End v Aston Villa, Sat 29th Dec 3pm

Silhillvilla said:
They had just as bad if not worse injury issues
We needed to be winning this game , it's another 2 points dropped
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Agree with what you say re their injuries Silhill but were it not for a freak event at Norwich re the 20 min delay and a restart Derby surely would have got a draw at best. No we wernt good again today but we are hanging in there. Every team has a bad run and if that cheating bastard at the Baggies hadnt pushed it in with his hand, something a blind man on a galloping horse would have seen, we would be one win away from the play offs.
As it is we are still in touch with a window to come and hopefully injured players back.
 
Silhillvilla said:
We should of been making a statement today by sweeping them aside. Sadly the only statement we made is we are miles short of where we need to be.
PNE hit the bar, the post, had a goal disallowed, we had to clear 2 off the line plus Nyland made one great save from a volley. All this against an injury ravaged pne side who ended up with a 16 year old on the pitch.
Can't say I'm confident about the qpr game either
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Tbh Silhill you don't appear to have been confident before any game we've played since Dean Smith was appointed! Why should we have a divine right to sweep any side away? If you expect that every week you're going to be disappointed. Did Leeds sweep Hull aside at home today, did WBA sweep aside lowly Sheffield Weds?.....no games are a given in the championship.
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
How can we make any kind of a statement with our best player out injured and a back 4 stuck together with sellotape?
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I do think there is an "entitled" undercurrent within our ranks. We made statements at Derby and Boro - didn't do much good in following games. Marathon not a sprint, one game at a time spring to mind. There will be a plan at high level within the club and we will have to be patient to find out how that pans out.

We were worse than crap against teams during Bruce's reign and we have the same squad of players. I'm obviously not happy with 9th in the Championship but philosophical as I believe we would be far worse off under Bruce with no end in sight.
 
Well, that was a letdown with so many fans making the trip to Preston expecting a win, me included. Struggling to pick a decent performer but here goes.
Nyland: 5 One great save but jittery and hesitant as ever for me, just one more game and he's gone thankfully
Elmo:4 Awful for most of the game, can't believe how poor he's been lately.
Bree: 5 Being generous here. He is slow Shaky and gives me the frights.
Chester: 6 Probably the best of our pedestrian back 4
Hutton: 5 All over the place and some of his defending was last ditch desperation stuff.
Whelan: 6 Probably our best player and that really says it all , 3 games in a week was asking far too much of him.
Hourihane; 4 Weak , poor passing and when he doesn't score he's the weakness ,feeble.
McGinn: 6 Gives it his best every game but today he wasn't at it , missed another sitter
El Ghazi:5 Flattered to decieve but looked better at the end when he was switched to the left wing.
Tammy: 6 Good header for the goal but his hold up play was sloppy.
Bolasie: 4 How did he start never mind stay on so long awful.
Subs:
Albert and Barney :6 Thought we looked far more in control with these two on and only Dean Smith will know why they never started.
Coach Smith:6 Come on Deano this isn't working
 
Langoe66 said:
Tbh Silhill you don't appear to have been confident before any game we've played since Dean Smith was appointed! Why should we have a divine right to sweep any side away? If you expect that every week you're going to be disappointed. Did Leeds sweep Hull aside at home today, did WBA sweep aside lowly Sheffield Weds?.....no games are a given in the championship.
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I do wonder if there are still some who want Bruce still to be in charge . It's the impression I get, rightly or wrongly.
 
Silhillvilla said:
They had just as bad if not worse injury issues
We needed to be winning this game , it's another 2 points dropped
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To be fair on Sky they said Preston had 10 players out injured and had a bench full of teenagers so agree we should be capitalising on that, but equally we have squad issues which are holding us back.

I said before kick off we should have made a few changes the only thing I can think of is the second choices like Adomah and Bjarnasson have been rushed back and aren’t fullly fit themselves. Even our supposed better youth players aren’t available as they have been loaned out (Mitch Clark, Suliman, Green) or injured / out (o’hare, Doyle Hayes) so Smith has a difficult job right now, think he’s got to try his best with a losing hand.
 
Villan57 said:
Strange to see JDH and O'Hare warming up again but not on the bench , when our midfield is so weak
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Maybe this is Dean's way of integrating them properly into the squad, unlike Bruce who categorically ignored exciting prospects or Sherwood (with RHM) who threw in a 16 year old into a shit team?

DS has a track record of trusting and working with youngsters, and I have no doubt he knows the best way to involve them. Much as we'd all want to see the likes of COH and JDH given a chance, we have to trust DS to do it right.
 
JuanPabloAngel said:
Maybe this is Dean's way of integrating them properly into the squad, unlike Bruce who categorically ignored exciting prospects or Sherwood (with RHM) who threw in a 16 year old into a shit team?

DS has a track record of trusting and working with youngsters, and I have no doubt he knows the best way to involve them. Much as we'd all want to see the likes of COH and JDH given a chance, we have to trust DS to do it right.
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I hope you're right mate, I've never seen this before when players who are not even on the bench are allowed to warm up with the first team . Mind you sarkic does it regularly.
 
If only football was as simple as people think it should be .

Play a team that has loads of injuries equals an easy win where we sweep them aside.
Never mind that the team we play have their own pride/point to prove/fight.

By rights Liverpool shouldn't be spanking Arsenal 5-1 , wolves beating spurs 3-1 away, let alone the cup shocks that happen year after year. But it happens I'm afraid.

Of course on paper we should have beaten them but as we know football isn't......

I won't bother finishing that cliche.
 
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Melon Donkey said:
I do wonder if there are still some who want Bruce still to be in charge . It's the impression I get, rightly or wrongly.
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I supported Steve Bruce and fought my corner defending him for the best part of 18 months MD.....but he'd lost me within the first few games this season. Our current set up fills me with so much more hope and confidence both on and off the pitch. We've lost one in ten, 8 of which were against teams in the top half, won on the road three times out of the last five including two victories against teams in the top six, haven't lost away since October.....yet read some posts on here in isolation and you'd think Dean Smith had made no impression at all. Yes he's not exempt from criticism but I don't feel he's done a lot wrong since being appointed. Many were critical that he's picked Whelan again today yet it's suggested above by 57 that he was our best player! Turn those draws into wins and we'd be flying.
 
Langoe66 You know I'd sack off Hourihane for Barney , there's nowt wrong with Whelan in his position he does what he does well but 3 games in a week were in hindsight too much. When he's our MOTM you know how poor the rest have been
 
Villan57 said:
Langoe66 You know I'd sack off Hourihane for Barney , there's nowt wrong with Whelan in his position he does what he does well but 3 games in a week were in hindsight too much. When he's our MOTM you know how poor the rest have been
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It's all about opinions isn't it 57. See I don't rate Barney much, think he looked lethergic when he came on against Leeds last week, for me seems to take a while to get used to the pace of the game, missed a sitter today and whilst Conor drives me mad at times you can't argue with the number of assists and goals he scores. Would give Conor the nod over Barney at present but would consider dropping Whelan for Barney on Tuesday. Can't see him picking Whelan for the fourth time in 10days again....even if he was our man of the match today!
 
Just to add to what i put earlier about football not being simple.

Not using as an excuse but this time of year with the stupid schedule results are all over the place.

Take today . 3rd game in a week with still one to go in 3 days time .

All these teams failed to win today when I would expect on form for them to do so. All top half teams

Us
Baggies
Norwich
Leeds
Blues
QPR
Forest
Stoke
 
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